Dartmouth foreign language classes embrace Twitter

From wire service reports

August 15th, 2013

The Twitter assignments start with a workshop on how to perform Twitter searches and filter results.

Foreign language professor Tania Convertini is thrilled to catch her Dartmouth College students complaining about homework or upcoming tests. She’s not eavesdropping—she’s reading their tweets, written in Italian and assigned as part of an effort to immerse students in the language 140 characters at a time.

Convertini, director of Dartmouth’s French and Italian language program, requires students to follow prominent Italian individuals, companies, and organizations on Twitter and to tweet among themselves in Italian. And while the approach is a nod to the younger generation’s obsession with smart phones, Convertini says she is not embracing technology just for technology’s sake.

Instead, she wants put students in charge of their learning, expose them to authentic language in real-life, real-time situations, and create a community that extends beyond the classroom.

“We ask students to always use the Italian language in class, but then, when the class is over, what happens? They have homework, we have a lot of activities, but Twitter gives them one more opportunity to interact with each other,” she said. “And students are constantly using this tool. They are constantly on their phones, on their BlackBerrys. … So my challenge was to come to terms with the monster and make sure that the monster was actually working with me, instead of against me.”

(Next page: How Convertini has integrated Twitter into the instructional process)